Dubai, a city of bright lights and vibrant nights, makes every popular spot a luminous treat. Many of us carry DSLRs to capture those moments. Not all the time though we want to carry one.

As a blogger, and heavy Instagrammer, it is important to take good photos all the time - lively, telling and powerful.

There are times when DSLRs are really necessary, and there were some situations in past events I'd wish not bringing one - because it adds inconvenience to move around. Other events are also too elegant to be carrying a DSLR at hand, unless I am the photographer.

Last night, I was at Dubai Mall and thought of seeing the Dubai Fountain again. No big camera, just a mobile phone. Yes, a smartphone. Thirty minutes after sunset.

Huawei P8 camera features a lot of different modes and 2 of my favorites that produce decent photos amidst dark environment are the Super night and the Light painting.

Another super night shot while waiting for the fountain show

The super night mode is for taking photos in low light environments. It requires a very steady hand or a tripod because it takes a shot with an exposure time between 10 to 30 seconds - depending on the amount of light in the surroundings.

Light painting is a photography technique in which exposures are made by moving a hand-held light source or light displays while taking a long exposure, either to illuminate a subject or to shine a point of light directly at the camera.

I used super night mode on the 2 photos above (and at the last part). The ones below were results of light painting mode. They are resized but unedited and unfiltered. Click them to view the original resolution which is 16:9 3264x1840.

Tail light trails, as the name suggest best capture the trails of light made by moving cars in the night. Light graffiti captures the trails of light in a dark environment.

Silky water captures the flow of moving water in a silky smooth effect.

Star track is ideal to capture the trails of the stars and galaxies in the night sky.

I used a tripod to take these photos - because even the slightest shake or pulse of hand could blur the output. Thanks to the real-time preview, I can choose the right exposure length for a great shot.

They may not be as perfect as what DSLR gives us, but the photos are somehow alive. These features also inspire me to be more creative in taking snaps and in using them as contents for my materials.

The above results testify that P8 is a dependable mobile camera even after the sun goes down. (Just don't forget your tripod).

These features doesn't consume much power. The only drawback is the battery heats up quickly when light painting mode is used continuously. You'd feel the phone warming up when reaching 5 minutes of usage.

The time lapse mode is cool. It allows you to take photos at specific intervals and convert into a video, like this one I took while my phone sits steady on the dashboard. If this is cool, the battery is not so. It's great but do not overuse.

The other camera features include panorama, HDR, all-focus, best photo, watermark and auto note (which lets you record 10 seconds of audio after you take a photo). Settings allow you to set the resolution and switch the following functions on or off: GPS tag, perfect selfie, timer, capture smiles, optical image stabilization, object tracking, ultra snapshot, ISO and other image adjustments.

Watermarks in the city
Watermarks allow you to add a predefined yet customizable foreground text or graphics. You can select from location, weather, mood or food categories.

Here are some photos around Downtown Dubai. See how I put the watermarks on top of them. Ideal for photo blogging. Great for Instagram huh!

Panorama
Again, a steady yet moving hand or tripod is necessary to take a seamless panorama. I wasn't using any tripod on the photo below and the level of the phone was not consistent, hence the cuts are obvious.

This was taken at Shangri-la Muscat beach front during our holiday stay there

Supernight, again
The photos below are results of super night mode. What I also love about this mode is its color and brightness accuracy. These shots exactly show what my naked eye sees.

Shangri-la Muscat at night. I held the phone on a steady hand and the length of exposure was a long 22 seconds.

Quality indeed. After all, Huawei P8 uses DSLR-level image signal processor, has a 13MP rear camera, optical image stabilization, F/2.0 aperture and four color RGBW sensor. So gone are the days when we can't rely on smart phones to take superb photos in dim lights. I guess I'll keep discovering every emirate with P8.

Competition: WIN 500 AED voucher to use at landmarkshops.com at the end of this post.

If there's one shopping destination husbands would wholeheartedly approve for the wives to go, it's gotta be at home. ONLINE. No complains. No tired legs. No disputes. Wives can spend as much time as they wish to browse through the items while husbands do their own things at home, and avoid carrying those finger-stiffing shopping bags.

That's the husband talking. Now listen to the dad.

My wife needs to buy some stuffs for the baby but it's been a busy week that limits my time to go out and shop. Also, the thought of long queues and the crowd turns me off - it's 'Sale Season' remember. Not to mention, the parking woes. And when we shop for kids items, you can never avoid the little one from running around and playing with the toys and whatever on display at the stores.

But I still took her to shopping and I'm cool with it.

We shopped at landmarkshops.com and we like the experience. Landmark Group is the company that operates Centrepoint. Most of their top brands are available online such as the apparel and footwear stores Max, Shoemart and Splash; home and living department Lifestyle; children's store, Babyshop; and even their electronics chain, Emax.

If going to the mall is too stressful these days because of the Dubai Summer Surprises crowd, the online store also does promotions. That's what caught my eyes upfront in fact. There is an ongoing sale that offers 25-70% off on many items at the time we shopped.

Customer Experience

We checked the site both on the desktop and the mobile.

The landing page is not too crowded and the brands are just a scroll away from the top. Special offers and best sellers are spread neatly on the the home page.

The black-white look and feel of the frame plus the use of subtle colors allows users to focus on the items. There's not much of noise around the gallery.

Parent categories make up the main navigation - very user centric indeed. The menu items are well-organized and nested clearly. The footer has quick links to the most common sub-categories. You can easily jump from one section to another in a click.

Online shopping newbies wouldn't get lost on their first use. Sign-up is not mandatory. A Facebook login is available for quicker registration.

I love the idea of uncut browsing of items. Instead of using pagination, the next set of items loads automatically upon reaching the bottom of the page. It also shows the number of products on the category so you know how far you need to scroll down further. Surprisingly, the galleries load quickly (I'm using 10MBPS) despite being a huge graphical showcase.

Items for sale

There are wide range of items, thousands in fact. From personal to office and school needs and even gadgets and huge home appliances like TVs, washing machine and refs. You can arrange them based on your preferences to trim down the list. The product comparison is a great feature especially in Emax where you can compare up to four gadgets side by side their specs.

You can sort the items by relevance to your needs, by brands or by price. Sorting by price I believe would be the most useful to many shoppers, myself included.

The good thumbnail size allows me to have ample preview that I don’t need to click the item to see it better. I only click if I like the item to see more pictures from different angles, and its available sizes and color details. Definitely a time-saver.

The suggested items which has relevance to the current item on the screen is a big help.

Yeah, you can't fit the shirts but for loyal shoppers, they would know their sizes and what best fit them.

I wish...

However, I wish the shopping session timeout is longer. Several times I lost the items I already have in the basket because I was logged out. At some point, I needed to refresh the page to see the items back in the basket. I understand that the limited session time could be for security reasons but giving more time would help - especially most online shopping are done at home, where interruptions are unavoidable.

Another one I'd like to see added to the site is a real-time chat. If in actual shopping we don't like an attendant following our every move, in online we need someone to talk to. Shoppers always have questions about the items, because not everyone may quickly find the information in the website - especially newbies. Like for example, I found a good item but out of stock. I wanted to ask if that is available in any of their mall stores, or how long will it take to be in stock again, but wasn't able to do so.

They have the phone support hotline number anyway for queries such as mine. Or you can talk to them on social media. Their Twitter and Facebook is provided.

The site is relatively new that I have not seen any review on the items I viewed. It's a good feature that would guide the customers particularly about the quality of the items.

Back to our shopping, we bought 15 items in total mostly from Babyshop (That's how it is when you're a parent). We only got an item each for me and the wife from Splash and Max.

Checkout is easy (if you won't get logged out). As typical as how you review your shopping cart before heading to the cashier, you can also review the items in your 'basket.' You may change the quantity, modify or remove items. You can pay with visa or mastercard, or cash on delivery. The online merchant uses an industry-grade, secure SSL channel, with the latest data encryption techniques and digital signatures, so your info is safe.

You also earn Shukran points.

Delivery is champ. Morning next day I got the box with all the items in very good condition and proper packaging. We've known Babyshop and Splash for good customer service and true enough, our orders are sealed in the best quality.

So husbands, next time the wives ask for shopping, you know what to do. Kidding aside, landmarkshops.com provides a good alternative to traditional shopping. Unless you're buying really delicate items, the online store offers convenience if in case you can't go to the malls for your own reasons. AND.. you're not only shopping for the trendiest styles, your shopping style is trendy.

Competition
Win 500 AED shopping voucher to use at landmarkshops.com! Simply enter by any or all of the ways below to qualify:

Ever wonder how Filipinos get along quickly, and how they seem to develop affinity?

Filipinos are known to easily mingle with their fellowmen. Because living abroad means having to deal with different emotions, the sense of belonging(ness) is one of the essential needs we look for. We want to connect instantly, not necessarily make a long-way friendship. We seek people who we can talk about common things, especially'emotional' things.

So how does a connection begins? These 10 questions are the common conversation starters:

2. Taga-saan ka sa atin?
EN - "Where are you from in the Philippines?"
Finding a fellow Filipino is a relief. Finding someone who hails from the same place as yours is a comfort. You would get along. The situation is like you're talking about the same movie you just watched.

3. May kakilala kang ___?
EN - "Do you know someone named ___?"
And then this question follows because someone tries to create a family tree. Kidding. Someone wants to know if you are connected 'deeply' by means of common (popular) friends. We want to prove again that we live in a small world.

4. Sa'n ka nagtatrabaho dito?
EN - "Where do you work here"?
Someone wants to know if you do the same job, if you're under the same field, because he's interested to take the acquaintance further and discuss more about 'work'.

5. May opening ba sa inyo?
EN - "Are there job opportunities in your company?"
And possibly, someone wants a padrino to get a job (and he wants to work with you). "Just send me your CV, and will let you know if there's an opportunity" is what your reply would be, most likely.

6. Ano lahi ng boss mo?
EN - "What's the nationality of your boss?"
Someone investigates. Because he have preferences about who to work with. One may have bad experiences with other nationalities that, unfortunately, he tends to generalize it.

7. Ilan kayong Pinoy dun?
EN - "How many Filipinos work in your company?"
Someone's checking if he will be okay in case he works in your company because it's more fun with more Pinoys (daw). Feels more homey I guess.

8. Matagal ka na dito?
EN - "How long have you been here?"
Someone wants to know how credible or not you are - that your stories about Dubai are reliable and from personal experience.

9. Sa'n ka dito, magkano renta?
ENG - "Where do you stay here? How much do you pay for rent?"
Stalking? Not really. Just canvassing (read: comparing) if you've got a better place to stay than what he got in terms of rent cost and probably accessibility and amenities nearby.

10. Sino'ng kasama mo dito?
EN - "Who are you staying with?"
Someone might be wondering if your family is here or if you are already in a comfortable circle of friends. Because if not, he may want to start connecting with you. Sometimes, it's a fishing question, if your wife or husband is here with you :)

...and of course, the opening question is...

1. Kabayan?
EN - "Are you one of us?"
Someone's looking at you with an intense eye contact yet doubtful (kahit pango ang ilong mo), inspecting your facial features in a snap. And to validate the gut feeling, he will blurt out... "Kabayan?"

The 11th question could possibly be... "Ano'ng pangalan mo?" Some people find it more comfortable to ask the name if they already feel at ease with the 'former unknown.'

We may be complete strangers back home, but we try to get along in the foreign land and create a bond. This kind of acquaintance feels so good. Hope it stays this way forever, not only in Dubai but anywhere in the world we may be.

But beware, there's one introductory question that provokes controversy, and you may want to avoid it... GUSTO MO MAG-KAPE? :P

* Part 1 of 4: It is 'Buwan ng Wika' or Month of the Native Language in the Philippines and we look at what Filipinos in Dubai say...

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Who is Boy Dubai

Living in Dubai for 10 years now, Ion is a UX Architect by day creating wireframes for websites, mobile apps and other digital UIs. He blogs on his spare time, usually by night, and writes about expat life, parenting, meaningful places to visit, some bits of health & fitness, sports, and food for the tummy and spirit.

100 Most Influential Filipinos

Honored and humbled to be included in the 100 Most Influential Filipinos in the Gulf region. Thank you very much Illustrado. It is a very rewarding feeling every time I hear Filipinos relate, enjoy or become empowered by the things I blog about. Rest assured I'll always strive to become better influence to the community. It is always a learning experience. Thank you! All glory to God!

Why Boy Dubai

"Boy" is a common prefix in the Philippines pertaining to ownership or mastery to the succeeding word. Hence, BoyDubai means mastery of everything about Dubai.
Do you think we can work together? Please send me an email at connect@iongonzaga.com / ion.gonzaga@gmail.com.
Thank you.